Mobile point of sale (mPOS) solutions bring POS functionality to mobile devices like tablets or smartphones and provide sales personnel with the flexibility to conduct transactions anywhere – within or outside the store. This flexibility has great potential for enhancing customer experiences in places such as pop-up shops, food truck counters, and even curbside. However, the use of mPOS systems for stationary applications on countertops is gaining traction as more merchants discover their benefits.
John Choi, Product Manager for Epson America, explains, “mPOS systems, with their modern, streamlined design, can significantly boost a merchant’s brand image. Their compactness and adaptability make them highly portable, further enhancing customer interactions.”
How Mobile Point of Sale Solutions Optimize the Checkout Counter
Merchants may choose mPOS for countertop use for several reasons. First, the compactness of mPOS systems allows merchants to establish a checkout lane, order-taking station, pickup station, or return counter wherever convenient without restructuring the entire store around larger stationary POS terminals. Additionally, mPOS software on a tablet utilizes the front-facing camera for cashier log-in via facial recognition and product label scanning, facilitating swift setup and efficient checkout. These functionalities can mitigate bottlenecks during high-traffic periods or help expedite the establishment of additional return lanes during the post-holiday season.
Furthermore, upgrading the mPOS system is simpler than their Windows-based counterparts, which require exhaustive adjustments with the merchant’s system and peripherals. “With mPOS, merchants can readily download modules with additional features from application marketplaces like Google Play or the iOS App Store,” Choi explains. “This equips merchants with unmatched flexibility and easy access to the latest functionalities that meet their evolving business demands, all on a pay-as-you-grow basis.”
Choi further highlights that mPOS solutions are pivotal in designing systems that prioritize customer convenience and speed.
Peripherals and Mobile Point of Sale
Wireless peripheral devices have significantly improved, which resulted in a streamlined set-up that is easy enough for merchants to complete without outside IT help. Additionally, the NFC tap-to-print feature on receipt printers can considerably enhance customer experience and transaction speed, giving consumers the autonomy to receive or decline a paper receipt. Integrated peripheral capabilities utilize printers with USB peripheral control functionality, leading to fewer cables, lower costs, and greater control through a single API.
When integrating printers or other hardware peripherals with mPOS solutions, Choi emphasizes that ISVs should ensure that the overall solution is countertop-friendly while retaining the versatility of a portable system as required. For instance, Epson’s TM-m30III receipt printers are capable of WiFi and Bluetooth interfaces and are designed to support top-load or front-load configurations. This adaptability facilitates their deployment on the countertop, beneath the counter, as a standalone printer, or even as a printer mounted on a mobile cart.
Choi highlights, “While prioritizing customer experience and convenience is fundamental, there is considerable scope for advancing these areas even further. Make sure that the hardware you choose fully supports the capabilities of the mPOS software you develop.”
